Peter Kok joined Shum Yip Land Company Limited in 2012, is a senior business consultant at Shenzhen Investment Limited and is the deputy general manager in Shum Yip Land Company Limited. Prior to this, he joined Swire Properties in 1997 and served as the general manager in its southeast China region. He took charge of site evaluation, planning, construction and the business operations of Taikoo Hui, a high-end shopping mall located in Guangzhou. Before that, he was the marketing director of Hutchison Whampoa Limited and took part in the planning and operation of Meilong Town Square in Shanghai, Metropolis in Chongqing and many other commercial projects.
This paper begins with a discussion of the relationship between “architecture, environment and people” and suggests that the shaping of the environment in urban-complex projects should be developed from a more macroscopic perspective. The interaction between architecture, environment and people should play a more important role. For instance, the ecological gallery bridge in the Upper Hills project featured in this paper illustrates the significant influence that peoples’ activities have in the design of urban complex.
Keywords: Urban Context, Environment of the Complex, Ecological Gallery Bridge, Connection and Composite
Ever since the emergence of human civilization, the complicated relationship between architecture, environment and people has always objectively or subjectively promoted the development of society.Ancient people built architecture as a protection against the uncertainty of the environment. As the evolution of human beings and the development of technology progressed, architecture gradually embodied the demand for aesthetics and comfort, eventually transcending nature and causing irreversible damage. However, with a better understanding of the balance between those three factors, human beings have begun to rethink the subtle relations between architecture and environment and rebalance their roles and proportions. By viewing the natural environment in a more macroscopic perspective, architects and developers could better utilize natural resources and remove the gap between people and nature. For instance, architects are now connecting inhabitants to, rather than simply protecting them from the environment. Contemporary urban and architecture design are turning their focus from buildings and infrastructure alone to interchange with and shaping of the environment. The environment is not only a simple, functionally lifeless artificial system; rather, it is a reflection of our society. Human beings should search for methods consisting of their own values mixed with the values of the nature.
To bridge the gap between architecture and environment, and establish a dialogue between them, we start from the needs of people, focusing on “bigness” and “smallness” in architecture projects.
“Bigness,” or the integration of a building and the city, creates new blocks or communities that could fit into the original urban texture and environment, thereby synergizing the urban space, integrating with the transportation system and forming a mixed-use hub, promoting the values of urban spaces, and optimizing the functions of the city.
“Smallness,” or using “human circulation,” “human scale,” “humanization,” and “human experience “ as the starting point for all problems, embodies the spirit of “human-oriented.”
The prominent Roppongi Hills project in Tokyo, Japan, synthesized these two aspects, and remains the best study-tour destination for urban complex developers in China. Roppongi Hills combines the development of the district with the overall planning of the city. Also, it keeps the original water system and greenery by integrating the surrounding parks and plazas into the development. More than half the area of the project is exterior open space, characterized by excellent artistic design and spatial planning. The project consists of shopping, catering, living, transportation, recreation and entertainment functions, demonstrating a new mode of urban life.
Integration and Composition of Architecture and City
Contemporary cities, societies and economies are integrated and combined to make the city a complicated composite of various functions. Also, cities foster the trend of “integration of architecture and city.” With such a background, the planning and design of urban complexes should emphasize the following aspects:
Figure 1. Shum Yip Upper Hills rendering (Shum Yip Land Company Limited)图1.深业上城项目整体效果图（出自：深业置地有限公司
288 | CTBUH 2014 Shanghai Conference
1. Organic cross-programming, which satisfies various demands in different time periods.
2. Increased shared urban space, emphasizing the vertical pedestrian system while organizing and incorporating the human-scale urban spaces that have historically been destroyed by motor traffic.
3. Integration of greenery, blurring the boundary between project, city and natural environment, responding to the climate and the history of the city and integrating these features into the architecture’s design, shaping a regional environment character.
4. Emphasis on using streetscapes and architecture to establish the identity of the complex and integrate it with the surrounding region.
These principles have inspired the plan of Shum Yip Upper Hills. By the integration of architecture, environment and city, a district fitting into the urban context is created and enables organic combinations of urban space. For instance, effective connections with transportation systems can beneficially integrate the city with, and support the natural environment. This requires an overall re-thinking of the transportation’s function, form and other architectural factors, together with the city grid and environment. The method solves urban dilemmas by building clusters while solving architectural problems in an urban perspective.
Shum Yip Upper Hills is located between two main parks in the center of Shenzhen--Lianhua Mountain Park and Bijia Mountain Park--and surrounded by three main roads in the east, west and south (see Figure 1). Inspired by this, we choose “connection and composition” as the leading idea in the planning, with the goal of building connections in the space and realizing the composite of various functions in time.
First, we re-interpret the “sight corridor” in the original planning conditions into a “green corridor” connecting the two mountains. The roof terrace of the shopping mall is then converted into open space. Two ecological pedestrian and cycling paths are implemented into the west and east of the project, spanning over the main roads and connecting to the greenways in the two parks, thus integrating the project into the greenway system of the whole city. Besides sight connections, a free transfer route is created between the two mountain parks for the citizens. This seamlessly combines the functions of the complex with the city layout and extends the walking axis in the downtown of Shenzhen further to the north (see Figure 2).
Figure 2. The ecological corridor connecting the central area of Shenzhen to Bijia Mountain Park (Shum Yip Land Company Limited)图2.连接深圳中心区到笔架山的自然生态主轴（出自：深业置地有限公司）
Figure 3. Rendering of “Featured Town” in Shum Yip Upper Hills (Shum Yip Land Company Limited)图3.深业上城特色小镇效果图（出自：深业置地有限公司）
2014年CTBUH上海会议 | 289
Connecting to the two ecological corridors, the rooftop terrace on the third floor in Shum Yip Upper Hills consists of “Featured Towns,” which are characterized by human-scaled street spaces (see Figure 3). Citizens could change clothes and even take a shower here after exercising in the parks. While remaining close to nature, people could still enjoy the city life in the shopping mall and Featured Towns, where the multilayered demands of modern life are satisfied simultaneously.
In the design of the banquet hall in Shum Yip Upper Hills Hotel, the platform on the third floor is accessible for pedestrians, its elevated position providing a viewing platform for the beautiful scenery of Bijia Mountain. Taking aspirations from the “view borrowing” in traditional Chinese gardens, the buildings are shaping into a frame that introduces the gorgeous mountain scenery and reduces the impact of the building volume (see Figure 4).
The blocks which are separated at present are woven together by the vehicle and pedestrian system of Shum Yip Upper Hills. Thus, the functions of the complex are perfectly combined with the urban texture. At the same time, ecological corridors are created between two mountain parks providing recreational space in the city for citizens. This embodies a planning concept of combining the natural environment in the city downtown with high-density artificial environments (see Figure 5).
On account of those interactions (i.e. people with architecture, people with nature, and architecture with the city) this project has shown its influence beyond the architecture itself. The shaping of the environment in a complex is inextricable from the urban context.
Environment Design and Interaction With People
Of course, the most important design criterion is promoting the interaction between people. Urban complexes are vital and attractive because of the range of human activities they support.
The design of two Ecological Corridors (see Figure 6 and Figure 7) is inspired by the “Zigzag Bridge” found in traditional Chinese gardens.
Figure 4. In the banquet hall of Shum Yip Upper Hills Hotel, Bijia Mountain appears as if it is part of the building. (Shum Yip Land Company Limited)图4.深业上城酒店独立宴会厅框景视角下的笔架山（出自：深业置地有限公司）
Figure 5. Means of access through Upper Hills to Lianhua Mountain Park and Bijia Mountain Park (Shum Yip Land Company Limited)图5.深圳市民到达笔架山和莲花山公园的方式（出自：深业置地有限公司）
290 | CTBUH 2014 Shanghai Conference
The circuitous path avoids a monotonous experience provided by a typical quick-access usual platform bridge, yet provides a sight-seeing route with appropriate height and open views. Pedestrians could slowly promenade in the nature and enjoy the experience of strolling in the scenery.
The Ecological Corridors adopt the gentlest slopes, which are accessible for the disabled in wheelchairs and assure that the climb is not too difficult. The design of the bridge is as simple as possible, so as to merge with its surroundings in nature.
The landscape design considers the sunlight and frequency of typhoons in Shenzhen. Designers adopt green corridors along with vertical gardens and indoor flora. Pedestrians will feel as if they are walking in a valley, because on the sides of the Corridor, the slopes formed by the structural load-carrying system provide seats and stairs for people to rest and view the scenery. At every transition point, the necessary circulation is enlarged to form a public green space; the stairs along the bridges are seamlessly connected to the parks. Further, the semi-enclosed area beneath the bridges will be transformed into sculpture parks, urban markets etc., consequently enriching the activities in the parks.
Conclusion
Contemporary landscape design is turning the previously isolated, introverted gardens, into open and outgoing urban spaces that convert “gardens in a city” into “cities in gardens.” The open public space plays a vital role in the city system, enabling communication between people, and between society and nature. The City fosters more freedom and sharing because of modern communication technologies. For those urban complexes built at the scale of a city, there is a responsibility to fit the environment to the urban context. The urban environment is shared by the public; architectural design should merge itself into the natural environment system of the city, while taking advantage of the resources of the city.
Fig.6: Ecological Corridors on the east side of Shum Yip Upper Hills, connecting to Bijia Mountain Park (Shum Yip Land Company Limited)图6.深业上城东面连接笔架山的生态廊桥（出自：深业置地有限公司）
Figure 7. Ecological Corridors on the west side of Shum Yip Upper Hills, connecting to Lianghua Mountain Park (Shum Yip Land Company Limited) 图7.深业上城西面连接莲花山的生态廊桥（出自：深业置地有限公司）
2014年CTBUH上海会议 | 291
As more people move into cities, humanity has to find an innovative approach to solve the problems caused by urbanization and must face the potential future challenges, and then push the human society forward. As the development of human and society irreversibly progresses; complying blindly with nature is passive and against primary disciplines. However, the contemporary interest in environmental protection and the formation of an ecological ideology consistently remind us to re-think whether our behaviors are supportive of nature, and whether we have sufficiently incorporated nature into our urban lives.
![Shaping urban consolidation debates_Author Accepted Copy_Dec 2015[1]](https://static.documents.pub/doc/80x56/58ecdde01a28abb3428b45c3/shaping-urban-consolidation-debatesauthor-accepted-copydec-20151.jpg)
